Montgomery officials are studying where the village should get its drinking water in the future, and are aware how crucial the issue is for the community.
“This is probably the single most important decision you will ever make,” Village President Matt Brolley told the Village Board recently.
Currently the village gets its water from wells, tapping into a deep sandstone aquifer. However, that aquifer is drying up, officials said.
Village Engineer Peter Wallers said “we’re getting to a point where we’re starting to get to a critical phase of the sandstone, the dewatering, and in the next 10 to 15 years will get to a point” where there may be periods “where the risk of well inoperability is quite high.”
Montgomery is not the only town in the area with this problem. Oswego and Yorkville are also examining where to get water in the future with the aquifer slowly drying up. Oswego officials recently said the aquifer is at severe risk of depletion and will no longer be able to meet that community’s maximum daily water demand sometime between 2030 and 2050.
Montgomery trustees recently heard six options for the future water supply. Three involve bringing in Lake Michigan water, either through the DuPage Water Commission, which is already in existence, the Joliet Area Water Commission, which is being formed now, or through the Illinois Lake Water Commission in Plainfield.
Another option involves teaming up with Oswego and Yorkville on a treatment plant to use Fox River water. Other possibilities include working with the city of Aurora to purchase excess water from that city, or Montgomery building its own system to handle Fox River water.
Wallers suggested a plan for several public hearings, open houses and village workshops to take place over the next several months on the water supply issue. He is asking the Village Board to plan on making a decision on the water supply option sometime in November or December.
He said there are significant infrastructure improvements that will have to take place no matter which option is chosen.
“We won’t be likely switching water supplies until 2030 or 2035 depending on the alternative that is selected but we can’t stay on the deep sandstone (aquifer) indefinitely, that’s the one certainty,” he said.
Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.